Beautiful Suburbia: A Caster Chronicles Expanded Universe Project
by torykai
Summary: Starting just before the "Order of Things" is disrupted by Lena in Beautiful Darkness, Kilian Johnson begins his own journey of self-discovery, love, and sacrifice. Expanding the Caster Chronicles Universe, the story is set in the fictional Washington, D.C. suburb of Claxton, Virginia. Kilian is an adopted teen who dreams of a life of meaning, and the Wheel of Fate is turning...
1. Chapter 1

**Sicut ad terminum, sic incipit.**

I was dying.

I couldn't feel anything; I felt like I was suspended in time. I wasn't really sure how my life culminated at this point, but I knew it was worth it. Sacrifice for the ones I love, the one I love. It wasn't too long ago where I had wished for my life to be something different, something special. But as it ended, so it began.

* * *

I would never have thought that moving to the suburbs Washington, D.C. would become such a threat to my life as I knew it. My adoptive father is a Colonel in the U.S. Army, a pretty distinguished rank, but it comes with the price of never being home. Because of his job, we move around a lot. I mean every two years or so. I've been in school after school, house after house, and haven't had many long lasting friends. That is, unless we ended up moving to the same base somewhere down the road.

This move was just like every other one. I was a grade ahead and had just finished my sophomore year in high school. We were relocated here, to the populous and the "has-everything-you-need" D.C. suburb of Claxton, Virginia. It is a place like I have never seen before. Most military bases are surrounded by small towns, mostly built up due to the base itself. But here, the roads are packed, everyone seems to be in a rush, and there is a Wal-Mart at virtually every corner. Really, everything you could possibly need is just up the road.

We moved into a house on a cul-de-sac not too far from what will be my next new high school. A decent sized two-story house, it is virtually a clone of every other house for miles. That was the problem with Claxton, everything was the same. Same cars, same dogs, same stores, same daily routine. I had been there a week and it was already mind numbing. But, who was I to complain. I had just gotten my driver's license and it wouldn't take long to get anywhere with my friends. Once I managed to find some.


	2. Chapter 2

**Another First Day**

"Kilian, I am not going to say it again! Get out of bed!" My mom yelled. All I could here through my eyelids was the sound of pots and pans being thrown around. She had obviously decided to unpack the kitchen this morning.

I just laid there, staring at my blank white ceiling. Today was the first day at yet another new school. It was my junior year in high school and this would be my eighth school. I had skipped a grade in middle school which gave me another disadvantage of always being the youngest in my class. But it's hard to be nervous for a first day at a new school when you've had so many. I already knew how it was going to go. I would drive the old Ford pickup to school, sit in classes where I would "meet" people who lost interest after learning my name. I would go to lunch, try to figure out where to sit, and just end up sitting by myself. That would be followed by more of the same classes before driving myself back home.

That's how it happened on every "first day." This one would be no different.

I begrudgingly began my typical morning routine. I fought with my sister, Halle, over rights to the shower. She was my mom and dad's biological daughter and a total brat. She loves nothing more than to pester me at every opportunity. I then made my way downstairs, made myself a bowl of Wheaties which I ate in the living room to avoid the battle known as "unpacking" in the kitchen.

"Kilian Johnson, if you aren't out the door in three minutes, you'll be late for your first day of school and I'll have you unpack the rest of the house!"

I rolled my eyes. The only thing I hated more about moving than transferring schools was unpacking. My mom, Mary, had it down to a science. I guess after moving so much she gained some super powers whenever boxes were around. She would fly around the house in a flurry: hanging pictures, setting up furniture, organizing the kitchen, and then decide to do it all over again after she had finally finished. It was never a good idea to get on her bad side when she was unpacking.

I took a final bite of my breakfast and rushed for the door. Unfortunately for me, my sisters school started an hour after mine, so my she had extra time to make my life miserable. I spent the next five minutes searching for my backpack as my sister laughed. She was getting better at this as she got older. Today was not off to a great start.

Finally getting into the piece of junk old Ford that my Dad handed down to me when I got my license, I merged into the dreadfully boring commuter traffic of Northern Virginia. It only took five minutes to get to school, but that five minute drive quickly became the worst part of the day. This was a very heavily populated area, but you could time everything as if we were in Smalltown, USA. The rat race, as some people called it, was just a wheel that seemed to crush any individuality that this town had. Everything here was bland, boring, and monotonous. This was going to be a long few years.

I pulled into the parking lot with just five minutes to spare before my first class: history, which was always my favorite subject. I made my way through the halls and somehow managed to find my classroom just before the bell rang. The first thing I noticed was how everyone stared at me when I walked in. It was uncomfortable, like I was expected to put on a show for them, but I was used to it. Then I noticed the students. Closest to the door, three beautiful blondes were texting away as the surrounding jersey wearing meat heads were sizing me up. On the far side of the room, a mixed group of guys and girls wearing band shirts simply stared at me as if they knew I was one of them. I looked down at my Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt and realized it was fairly obvious where I was expected to go.

I shuffled into a seat next to one of the guys on the far side of the room and took out a notebook for the class.

"Hey man, 'names Conor. Conor Cornaire. Kilian, right?" he said as he offered his hand.

I shook his hand, surprised, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess," he laughed, "New to town right? Here, let me introduce ya." He pointed to the redheaded girl behind him "That's Alexis, my little sister. The guy to her right is our cousin, Will Donaghue. And this wallflower here," he put his arm around the black haired girl on his other side with the incredibly green eyes, "is my girl, Brianna."

I was listening, but I found myself unable to take my eyes off of Alexis. Her pale skin, red hair, and luminous green eyes heavily contrasted with her black halter top. I don't think I had ever seen someone more beautiful.

I felt stupid staring at her as she said, "Hey, I prefer Lex. Welcome to Claxton." She smiled as I was obviously at a loss for words, "Don't mind them," motioning towards the group on the other side of the room, "They're just excited about fresh meat."

I looked over and they had obviously started piecing together their latest story about the "new kid" in town. I looked back and said, "Thanks, great to meet y'all too."

A very large man, obviously our teacher, entered the room and wrote, "Constitution," on the board. I slouched in my seat and began the long grind they call High School, for the third time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Fallen**

My new history teacher, Mr. Baker, was an incredibly passionate but bland instructor of the intricacies of the United States' beginnings. Mr. Baker was as old as he was fat, and he looked ancient. Extremely fat, balding grey hair, and eyes that were weighed down with the experience of his years, Mr. Baker spoke with an obvious deep passion for his field of study, but his raspy voice and incessant drone made his class nearly unbearable. When the bell rang signaling the end of the period, the class couldn't have emptied faster.

I grabbed my bags to make a beeline for the door, but was stopped by Conor and dragged in front of Mr. Baker before I could take a step. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lex and the rest of their group head out the door. I can't say I wasn't disappointed.

"Kilian Johnson, a pleasure," Mr. Baker said hoarsely, "I'm incredibly glad to see we have another talented student in my class. Fifteen years old and a junior, not every day you see that."

Before I could thank him and try to be on my way, Conor jumped into the conversation.

"Dang dude, you're just fifteen? Even my little sister just turned sixteen. Anyhow, Mr. Baker is a longtime friend of my family; he and my dad go way back."

"You have no room to talk, Conor, I could point out the reason you're here." Mr. Baker replied.

"Being held back wasn't my fault, sir" Conor countered, "I'm sure you can remember that."

"Well yes, of course. But in any case, again, welcome to Claxton, Kilian. If you ever need anything let me know. A friend of the Cornaire's is always a friend of mine."

In all my years of traveling and switching schools, this was a first. I've never had the experience of making fast friends and quickly gaining connections with a teacher before. I couldn't complain, Conor and the rest of his group seemed like good people. For a second, I was excited about this new school, but then I realized it was just first period and I still had the entire day ahead of me.

I had always been a good student, rarely ever received less than a B in any class I took. But I always found it difficult to find my classes interesting. The only ones I did enjoy were history and English, but only for the content, not necessarily for the instructors or the seemingly never ending process of writing and re-writing essays for teachers that I'm pretty sure never look at them anyway. After sitting through a not-so-enticing lecture on the wonders of mathematics by my pre-calculus instructor and a fairly interesting discussion on mental abnormalities in my psychology class, the bell rang once again and I was off to my first lunch period.

Due to the large volume of students in my school, there were four different lunch periods. I was lucky enough to get the first lunch period, as I preferred to eat a little earlier to get me through the rest of the afternoon. Because of the different sessions, I didn't expect to see any of Conor's cohort there. But as I made my way through the lines to get my share of sub-standard "mystery meat," dry vegetables and aged fruit, a flair of red hair caught my eye from across the room. I quickly recognized Lex and saw Conor waved me over.

"Hey man, grab a seat." Conor beckoned, "I see you're getting your first taste of the delicacies provided by our great school's cafeteria."

"Ha, yeah, looks amazing," I replied. I took the only empty seat at the table: right next to Lex. I've always been terrible at talking to girls and I had a feeling this time would be no different. I guess you could say that I was intimidated by her beauty, as cheesy as that sounds.

I started attempting to eat what passed as food here and tried to keep out of the conversation, but Lex had other plans.

"So, 'new kid,'" Lex said playfully, "what brings you to Claxton?"

It took me a second to gather my words, but started to tell them all about my life growing up around the military. Lex was fascinated about how I spent four years overseas: two in Germany and two in Japan. No one in their group had ever been off of the East Coast and they couldn't stop asking questions about the places I'd been.

"That's so amazing! I've been dreaming about going to Europe my entire life and you've lived there!" Lex exclaimed. I was so enamored with her smile and her excitement. There weren't many military families in this area, so I guessed it made sense she never met any.

"We know, Lex." Conor said as everyone laughed, "It's not like we haven't seen your pictures all over you room."

Lex's cheeks turned a rosy red, "Oh, shut up Conor," she looked at me, "We obviously have a lot to talk about! Hey, you should come over this weekend! My family is having a get together and I know my mom would love to meet you too! It's not every day we get new additions to our community."

"I don't know, I wouldn't want to impose on anything," I replied. Honestly, I really wanted to go, but, like I said, I was nervous.

"Nonsense dude, you definitely need to come. It'll be an awesome time, promise." Conor interjected.

I glanced over at Lex noticed her smiling at me. My stomach did a backflip and I could barely contain what I knew was a goofy grin coming onto my face. But I wasn't going to lose it now.

"Well I can't say no to that!" I smiled back at Lex, "I can't wait to see y'all there!"

We spent the remainder of lunch talking mostly about our new classes this semester. Conor couldn't stay more than a foot away from his girlfriend, Will kept trying to get a hold of a binder in Lex's bag which Lex defended relentlessly, and I kept telling Lex about my time in Europe. I couldn't stop thinking about how beautifully her eyes shone in the florescent lights of the cafeteria and how she kept playing with her strikingly red hair. I couldn't stop thinking about how screwed I was. Because somehow, I had fallen in love with a girl I just met. I didn't stand a chance, and all she wanted to do was talk to me.


	4. Chapter 4

**An Unexpected Surprise**

The rest of that first day went by very quickly. In fact, the rest of that week was pretty much a blur. I found myself spending every moment I could with Lex. She wasn't kidding when she said she was absolutely fascinated with Europe. I had only lived in Germany, but she told me about her dreams to see the entire continent. Her family, the Cornaires, was originally from Ireland and she fancied going there first, but seemed adamant about going to Paris to see the Louvre. Every time we talked, Conor and Will would tease her about her new "book" on Europe and pick on me every time they caught me staring at her. Conor didn't seem to care; he was usually too preoccupied with Brianna anyhow.

It really didn't seem that long until the weekend arrived. It was about time. I had just met these folks, but we all really became fast friends. I had been there a week and it seemed like I had known them my whole life. It was a refreshing change from what I was used to.

That Saturday, at about two o'clock in the afternoon as I was about to leave, I realized I hadn't cleared the invitation with my parents. Talk about an oversight – there were still boxes all over the house, the lawn had to be mowed, and my Dad was planning on beginning construction on a deck for the backyard. I was doomed, there would be no way they would let me off right before I was supposed to go. But I had to try.

"I had no idea you had already made so many friends already." My mom said, "Who are their parents and where do they live?"

"They live towards the outskirts of town, but it's really just up the road. I promise I'll do everything tomorrow." I pleaded, "It means a lot to me." That was the zinger, the ace card. She knew I hated moving and re-making friends more than anything.

"Alright, Kilian. But when you get back tonight, you're unpacking your entire room, no ifs ands or buts about it!" My mom exhaustively replied.

"And don't forget about the deck, bud." My dad interjected from the other room, "I expect you out there early tomorrow morning."

I assured them that I would comply with their demands. As far as parental negotiations went, that was way easier than I had expected. I couldn't get out of the house fast enough. I threw on my shoes, grabbed my keys and made a bee line for my car. I followed the directions to the Cornaire residence on my GPS. When I arrived, I pretty surprised.

Their home was tucked into about fifty acres of woodland on the edge of our suburb. It was styled almost exactly how every house in the area was, just much larger. The driveway led straight up to a four car garage that was separate from the rest of the house. I quickly realized that my beat up old Ford truck was completely out of place. I parked behind two black Jaguars and a silver Mercedes that looked like they could have been fresh out of the show room. As I noisily fought to close my truck's door, I saw Conor standing outside the front door.

"Glad you could make it! Come on in!" Conor yelled.

"No worries man, glad to be here. This place looks awesome; I can't believe you have so much land." I replied as I shook his hand.

Conor laughed, "Yeah you know, we try to keep out of the hustle and bustle of the area. Wait until you see the inside, it's lookin' pretty classy today."

I stepped in and I was shocked. From the outside, the house looked pretty big, but on the inside it was huge. The floor was checkered black and white marble, the numerous crystal chandeliers were lit with candles, and what sounded like Bach was playing from an unseen source. And this was just the foyer. From here I could see two stair cases arching upstairs and multiple rooms peeling off the main hallway on the downstairs. I heard footsteps coming from the upstairs hallway.

"Kilian! Glad you finally made it!" Lex exclaimed. She was dressed in a long black evening gown that subtly sparkled as the light hit it. She was beautiful, and I felt like my truck: a piece of junk next to a work of art.

"Hey Lex! Thanks, but I feel like I missed the memo on the dress code-"

"Don't worry man, I got ya. I don't know why we didn't tell ya." Conor interrupted. "As you can tell," he pointed out his jeans and ratty band t-shirt, "Lex is the only one dressed right now anyway. A suit should do the trick."

I still hadn't taken my eyes off Lex when Conor said, "There, that's pretty slick if I do say so myself."

I was about to ask him what he was talking about when I noticed my sleeves. I was just wearing shorts and a t-shirt and was somehow now in a full black pinstriped suit. Even my shoes had changed from flip flops to black and white leather dress shoes. I just looked at myself, dumbfounded, when I looked up and saw Conor's clothes change before my eyes. Within a second, he changed from jeans and a t-shirt to a complete black tuxedo with a crimson cummerbund.

"I always had a taste for the fancy anyway." Conor joked.

I felt sick, the room started to spin and I had no idea what to say. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me, there was obviously some sort of explanation, I just couldn't think of one.

"Kilian, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost." Lex said, sounding a little worried.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling a bit sick is all…" I faintly replied.

I noticed Lex's fiery red hair start gently moving in a breeze that wasn't there. For a second, I forgot about the suit and just stood in awe of how amazing she looked. I found myself starting to think about how I was going to try and impress her this evening when she said in a worried tone, "Here, have a seat. You sure you're okay?"

A red velvet chair appeared directly in front of me out of thin air, and I passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Explanations**

I had no idea how long I was out. As I started to regain consciousness, I could hear the sweetest voice trying to coax be back to the land of the living. I immediately knew who it was.

"Kilian, Kilian, you planning on waking up?" Lex whispered into my ear.

"-wha…yeah I'm here." I said groggily as I sat up. Lex was sitting next to me and looked extremely worried. I looked around and noticed I was on the floor of what I assumed was the living room. The room was dark; a large fireplace provided the only light in the room. As my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, I could see Conor sitting with Brianna on one of the couches and the silhouette of a middle aged lady standing in the far corner of the room.

"You gave us quite a scare man; you've been out for hours. What happened?" Conor asked.

Brianna elbowed Conor in the side, "Give him a second dummy; let me have a look at him first."

She got up off the couch and walked over to me and put her hands on my chest. I felt a warm sensation surge through my body that went away the second she took her hands off.

"I don't see anything wrong with him, he must've just fainted." She said as she walked back to her spot next to Conor.

"I did what?" I asked, confused. That's when it all started coming back to me: my clothes changing in the blink of an eye, and a chair appearing out of nowhere right in front of me. I must have hit my head on something, that couldn't be what I saw. That's when I looked down and saw I was still in a suit.

"I don't know, things just started appearing out of nowhere, and I guess I just lost it. What was all that about?!" I said angrily. I was incredibly confused and nothing about what happened made any sense.

"You kids obviously made a mistake." The older woman in the corner said sternly as she stepped into the light. "If you had just waited like I asked, we wouldn't be having this problem right now. I can see in his eyes that he has never seen anything from our world."

"Your world-what are you talking about?" I replied, still beyond confused.

"Kilian, I'm sorry. We all jumped to conclusions, we thought you were one of us. We didn't mean to put you in this situation, especially seeing that you're a Mortal." Lex said apologetically.

"A Mortal…what are you talking about?"

Conor interjected, "We are Casters man, witches and wizards if you want to put it like that. Everyone in my family has powers; we've been around as long as Mortals have."

"Conor," the older lady said softly. She moved closer and she looked a lot older than she sounded. She had long silver hair, and soft wrinkles creased her face, but the bright green eyes that her whole family seemed to have shone brightly in the light from the fire. Her gaze met mine and I felt drawn in and couldn't look away. She broke the gaze and turned to her family, "He is no Mortal, but from what I saw, his powers haven't manifested at all." She looked back at me, "Your eyes don't lie Kilian, you are a Caster."

"That's what I was saying! His eyes are as green as ours, and he hasn't even been Claimed yet! We all felt it, how were we supposed to know?" Lex exclaimed, clearly now as confused as I was.

I was starting to feel nauseous again, "Can someone please fill me in on what's going on?" I could hear what they were saying, but absolutely nothing made sense.

"I'm sorry hun, I never properly introduced myself." The older lady said to me, "My name is Susan Cornaire, Lex and Conor's mother. And you, Kilian Johnson, are an enigma. Come here and have a seat while I get us some tea."

I looked at her distrustfully. She sighed at me and pulled a tea kettle out from a side table, "From a tea pot, Kilian."

It took about two hours for them to explain as much as they could about the Caster world to me. I quickly realized that saying "witch" or "wizard" was the equivalent to using a racial slur to them, so "Caster" quickly became a part of my new vocabulary. It still hadn't sunk in all the way, I was struggling to understand the various aspects of their world. I knew Mrs. Cornaire was a Sybil, which meant she could see the truth inside someone simply by looking at them; Lex was an Evanescent, so she could move objects at the blink of an eye; Conor could change one object into another, so he was a Shifter; and Brianna was a Thaumaturge and her powers allowed her to heal people.

I was also told about the presence of a Dark and Light side of Casters. I was still shaky on the details, but when a Caster turns sixteen, you are expected to make the decision between Light and Dark. To me, it sounded like something out of Star Wars, but it was apparent by their expressions that it was a serious matter.

"We're not the only Caster family around Claxton." Lex explained, "There is a family…no, more of a group, of Dark Casters. They stay together only to use each other to reach their own goals and gain power in this world. They're a serious threat and are not to be taken lightly. Luckily for us, they haven't been seen here for a few years, but you never know when you'll run into them."

"Okay, sorry, this is a ton to take in right now, but I get the different types of Casters, the Light and Dark sides, but I don't understand how you all thought I was one of you." I asked.

"Well first," Conor replied, "You have green eyes like the rest of us Light Casters. You haven't been Claimed yet, but that's a good sign regardless. As Casters, we're all obviously sensitive to magic, and could feel it in you, man. We don't talk about it in school so we don't cause any problems, that's why it never came up before now."

Mrs. Cornaire interrupted, "As for why your powers haven't manifested yet, that's a mystery. I understand you were adopted as a newborn, and there hasn't been any information on who your birth parents are or where they are be now. I feel that they are the key to find out how and why your powers have been…suppressed. I think it's in all of our best interests to uncover the answer to this problem."

"If I couldn't see what you all could do, I would never believe any of this…I'm still not sure I do. But sure, Mrs. Cornaire, what do we do from here?"

"All of you just need to continue on with school, I'll make some inquiries with an old friend down South and see what I can find out. In the meantime, Kilian, you cannot speak of your knowledge of our world to anyone else." She replied.

I nodded grimly. The weight of all of this was starting to settle on my shoulders. I still had a million questions and I obviously still had a load of thinking to do.

"Don't worry," Lex said softly as she took a seat next to me. She clearly could see the frustration, confusion and doubt written all over my face. _I'll be here if you need anything_.

I heard her voice in my head, but as I started to form yet another question, she put her hand on mine. All the fear and doubt was immediately whisked away as if it never existed. And for the first time in the evening, I was sure of one thing.

_I know, Lex._ I replied as we stared into each other's eyes.


End file.
